In an all-UAE affair between Doubles champions Naif Oqab and Shaker Al-Hassan (l-r), All Events winner Oqab ended the 12th Gulf Cooperation Council Bowling Championships with 279-232 victory to propel Emirates Bowling to the top of the medal tally with three gold, three silver and one bronze medal.

Six countries, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE and the host country Oman, participated in the Championships, which were held from December 22-29 at Oman Bowling Center in Al Khuwair, Muscat, in the old World Championship format (six games each in Singles, Doubles, Trios and Teams; 24-game All Events and Masters competition).

Qatar's Ali Abdulrahman started the Championships with a fine 1431 series, an average of 238.50, to win the gold medal in Singles. Khaled Al-Dubyyan of Kuwait was 59 pins behind to win the silver medal with 1372. His compatriot Basel Al-Anzi was further 63 pins behind to take the bronze medal with 1309.

Naif Oqab and Shaker Al-Hassan, who finished 9th and 16th, respectively, teamed to win the gold medal in Doubles with 2818 and an average of 234.83. Oqab overtook the lead in All Events with the field-best 1495 series and Al-Hassan contributed 1323.

The UAE bowlers outaveraged their nearest competitors, silver medalists Yaqoub Al-Shatti and Jassem Darwish (2528) of Kuwait by more than 24 pins. Bronze went to Hussain Al-Suwaidi and Hareb Al-Mansoori, UAE, with 2513.

Darwish and Al-Shatti joined forces with Mohammed Al-Zaidan to win the gold medal in Trios for Kuwait with 4138 total and an average of 229.83. The UAE trio of Oqab, Al-Hassan and Al-Suwaidi was mere eight pins behind (4130) to take the silver medal, despite a 1502 by Oqab, the highest series in the entire Championships.

Qatar's Yousef Al-Jaber, Jassim Al-Muraikhi and Abdulrahman were a distant third with 3889.

Kuwait with Darwish, Al-Anzi, Al-Dubyyan, Al-Shatti and Al-Zaidan cruised to victory in the prestigious five-player Team event finishing with 6358 total and a 211.93 average, 276 pins ahead of the UAE (Oqab, Al-Hassan, Al-Suwaidi, Mahmood Al-Attar, Sayed Ibrahim and Hareb Al-Mansoori) with 6084.

Mohammed Al-Najrani, Bader Al-Sheikh, Yasser Abulreesh, Mohammed Al-Saud and Adel Al-Barqi totaled 5986 to win the bronze medal for Saudi Arabia, the lone medal for the Kingdom in this Championships.

With a 1315 series, the highest individual series in the Team event, Oqab cruised to the title in All Events (combined scores of Singles, Doubles, Trios and Teams) with 5575 total and an average of 232.29 for 24 games.

Kuwait's Al-Dubyyan was almost 400 pins behind to receive the silver medal with 5177 (215.71) with Qatar's Al-Jaber in third place on 5114 (213.08).

The top 16 players in All Events advanced to the Masters finals with the top three after eight games scratch advancing to the stepladder finals.

Oqab maintained his first place en route to earn the No. 1 seed with 1905 and an average of 238.13. Al-Dubyyan (1829) and Oqab's team mate Al-Hassan (1809) finished with 245 and 254, respectively, to beat Al-Jaber (178 and 1798) for the last two spots.

In the opening match of the stepladder finals, Al-Hassan ousted Al-Dubyyan, 227-214, to set up an all-UAE title match against Oqab. The lefty rolled a near-perfect game to win the title and his third gold medal of the Championships, 279-232. Al-Hassan got silver and Al-Dubyyan took bronze.

 

12th Gulf Cooperation Council Bowling Championships - Medal Tally